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Business Ethics - Conflict of Interest

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Discuss the case study below from an ethics perspective (in 200-300 words of notes). Thanks.

Mr. White has high cholesterol. He takes a medication for it because research shows conclusively that lowering cholesterol levels can decrease the risks of cardiovascular disease. He sees online that a prominent pharmaceutical company has come out with a new product to treat high cholesterol. Mr. White is conscientious so he does a search on the medication and finds that there are a number of Web sites and blogs that write favorably about the benefits of the new medication. Despite the fact that it costs more than his current treatment, the positive mentions of the medication by a number of sites, from people who have a similar situation as his own, convince him to change medications. Mr. White does not realize that the pharmaceutical company has given gifts to the hosts of the blog and shared advice on how to appear prominently in search results. The information he has found may have been biased by the conflict of interest, yet, Mr. White has no way to know.

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Solution Summary

This solution thoroughly explains the case of Mr. White. Mr. White takes medications for high cholesterol and sees online that a pharmaceutical company has come out with a new product to treat his condition. The ethics of gift giving between the company and the advertiser and the remaining ethical issues involved are thoroughly discussed.

Solution Preview

This case is an apparent ethics issue from the standpoint of the pharmaceutical company. The pharmaceutical company is acting unprofessionally and unethically, given the nature of their industry and what they are attempting to do. We're dealing with a prominent pharmaceutical company, which means that they are an industry leader. We also have to analyze their actions in light of that fact. By ...

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